Foster: The price of good reporting

Despite our many strengths, the newspaper industry in general has failed miserably to promote and market itself to the reading public.

Because we advocate transparency and accountability, we don't hesitate to publish stories when there are industry layoffs, newspaper closures and decreased advertising revenues and circulation.

We ought to be touting our successes, and particularly our journalism.

A case in point was the front-page package "Joey's Journey," which we published last Sunday.

At a time when most newspapers are retrenching amid staff and resource cuts, the Chattanooga Times Free Press is beating the industry averages on several fronts, economic and journalistic, and was able to send a team of three journalists to the Washington, D.C., area several weeks ago.

The mission was to spend two days with bomb technician Sgt. Joey Jones, a North Georgia man who lost both legs when he stepped on an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan on Aug. 6.

The resulting package, much of which was reported from the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., included a 135-column-inch story by reporter Todd South at a time when most newspaper stories don't go beyond 15. There were 10 photographs by staff photographer Angela Lewis, a map of Afghanistan by graphic artist Laura W. McNutt, and fact boxes. Design Editor Lin Parker and a team of word editors helped craft a package that took up most of the front page and three entire inside pages. At timesfreepress.com, we included a poignant five-minute video by videographer Patrick Smith.

The story was worth every effort we employed. If you missed "Joey's Journey," I invite you to come by and pick up the Oct. 24 print edition or go to timesfreepress.com/joey.

Most stateside news coverage of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan has centered on policy, funding or the body bags coming home. Seldom does a news organization get unfettered access to a gravely wounded veteran with the courage and openness of a Joey Jones.

Through Joey, his parents, friends and medical caregivers, we were able to offer you a rare but in-depth look at the human spirit and one young man's determination to walk again.

It helped that our reporter is a former Marine who has completed a course on dealing with grief-stricken military families.

"Joey's Journey" is a style of journalism called long-form narrative storytelling. It -- and investigative reporting -- often are the first genres cut in newsrooms because they are time-consuming, labor-intensive and expensive.

But it's the style of journalism that any other media platform would be hard-pressed to replicate.

While the Times Free Press is working on a cultural shift to break more news on the Web and do it faster, the printed product remains our sustenance.

As an industry, newspapers must remain viable. Without them, stories like "Joey's Journey" would never see the light of day.

J. Todd Foster is executive editor of the Chattanooga Times Free Press and wishes you readers a Happy Halloween. He can be reached at jtfoster@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6472.

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